Sichuan Clique
The Sichuan Clique is a warlord state located in west-central China, centered on the Sichuan Basin and its titular province. As with most warlord states, the clique recognizes the Qing Empire as the legitimate government of China. One of the most populous and impoverished regions of China, the Sichuan Clique has a reputation for instability, even by Chinese standards. History As with most provincial forces, the armies of Sichuan rebelled against the Qing during the Xinhai Revolution in 1911. The first military governor of Sichuan during the Beiyang Republic was Xiong Kewu, but he was never able to gain control over the other generals in the province and the balance of power shifted continuously. This was not helped by two invasions by the Yunnan Clique, the first occurring in 1916 during the National Protection War and the second in 1917 during the Constitutional Protection War. In 1920, Yunnan general Tang Jiyao attempted to invade Sichuan again, but the combined efforts of the Sichuanese warlords defeated him. In the early 1920s, control of Sichuan was contested between generals Yang Sen, Xiong Kewu, and Liu Xiang. Numerous small battles occured and alliances between minor warlords were made and broken, but no one faction was able to gain supremacy. Xiong Kewu gained the upper hand in 1922, but Yang Sen returned the next year after gaining support from the Zhili Clique. Xiong expelled Yang with support from Tang Jiyao, but the conflict continued until 1926 when Zhili leader Wu Peifu decisively intervened. Yang Sen was installed as governor to the dismay of Liu Xiang and Xiong fled to the south. Though Sichuan recovered a modicum of stability, the clique remained divided and weak. The warlords were mostly helpless to stop the Yunnanese incursion during the 4th Zhili-Fengtian War, and Tang’s armies were only beaten back with considerable losses, especially among Yang’s personal forces. In 1930 the Tibetan Army advanced east to the Yangtze River and threatened Chengdu. Only intervention from the Ma Clique forced the Tibetans to withdraw. In the end, Tibet retained control of half of Xikang province and Yang’s army was further cut down. In 1931 a new thread came from the south. Xiong Kewu and his loyalists, combined with a Kuomintang-aligned force under Lü Chao, attempted to conquer Sichuan with the backing of the Yunnan Clique. Yang’s armies were beaten back time and time again and it looked as if his control over Sichuan was over. Yang had to make a deal with Liu Xiang, who at this point had a much larger army. Liu’s forces managed to rout the invaders and drive them into the hills in the southern part of the province. As part of their agreement, Yang had to give Liu much of his power within the provincial government. Though the war was won, Xiong and Lü remained in the foothills of southern Sichuan. The task of grinding them down was given to general Deng Xihou. Tang Jiyao planned another invasion of Sichuan in 1933 but the attempt was halted when Sun Chuanfang of the League of Eight Provinces threatened to intervene. Politics Sichuan is nominally a province of the Qing Empire under governor Yang Sen, but in reality neither the central government nor even Yang himself holds effective control of the province. Political power in Sichuan is divided between a number of cliques-within-cliques known as departments. Though most tacitly support the status quo, each looks out for its own interests and some are outright hostile to one another. * The Armament Department is composed of Yang Sen and his supporters. Though the nominal leader of the Sichuan Clique, Yang’s power has been much reduced. His army is small and only effectively controls Chengdu and its environs. Yang depends greatly upon his ally general Liu Cunhou who is based in Daxian and fields are larger army than Yang himself. * The Industrial Corps is led by Liu Xiang and his second-in-command Pan Whenhua, the mayor of Chongqing. Liu’s army is the largest in Sichuan and his control of Chongqing provides him with the greatest wealth of any warlord. It is well-known that Liu resents the Zhili for what he sees as a personal betrayal in passing him over for Sichuan’s governorship. * The Baoding Department is led by Deng Xihou of Guanxian and Liu Wenhui of Xikang (who is the younger uncle of Liu Xiang). Deng has gained a good reputation for putting down rebels and supporting economic development, which has earned him a place as Yang’s right-hand man. * The Officer Department, led by former governor Xiong Kewu and KMT general Lü Chao, is the rump left over from the invasion of 1931. The department only controls a small area in the southern part of Sichuan from which it engages in guerrilla warfare with the other warlords. Xiong is supported by Tang Jiyao and Chen Jiongming’s federalists. Military The Sichuan Clique cannot be said to field a unified army. Each department controls its own distinct units completely independently. The Industrial Corps has the largest army, followed by the Baoding Department and the Armament Department in third. Within each department forces are controlled by a loose network of warlords, many of whom have shifting loyalties to their superiors. Foreign Relations Considering that Zhili support is the only thing that has kept the Armament Department in power, Yang Sen has very close ties with the Zhili Clique and is one of the few provincial warlords with genuine loyalty to Wu Peifu. Most warlords are hostile to the Yunnan Clique under Tang Jiyao considering his long-standing desire to conquer Sichuan. Tibet is also resented for its occupation of western Xikang. Economy Sichuan is, perhaps, the most agriculturally productive province in all of China thanks to its rich soil and high population density. The famous Dujiangyan irrigation system has been taming the waters of the Upper Yangtze for over two thousand years. Chongqing is the largest city and main commercial depot as it sits on the Yangtze River, Sichuan’s main transportation link to the rest of China. Sichuan has a good deal of mineral wealth as well; traditionally it was known for producing most of China’s salt and recent exploration has found huge reserves of natural gas. Despite all of these advantages, modern Sichuan has a reputation for being one of poorest and most backwards provinces. It has no connection to China’s rail network and must transport goods by river or on ancient dirt roads. Only Chongqing has seen a modest amount of industrial development. Most damaging of all is the state of its agricultural sector. Because of the province’s great poverty, farmers have resorted to growing opium as a reliable cash crop. However opium cultivation has taken over such a large amount of available land that food production is dangerously low and Sichuan is constantly on the brink of major famine. Culture Sichuan is populated overwhelmingly by Han Chinese except for smaller populations of ethnic minorities like Tibetans in the western mountains. The people of Sichuan are known for their distinctly Sichuanese dialect of Mandarin and spicy Sichuan cuisine. See also * Yunnan Clique Category:Countries Category:Asian countries Category:Chinese-related topics